“DPS COMMISSIONER, CLEAN YOUR HOUSE FIRST!”

Fri, 09/22/2017 - 11:36am

Dear Editor,

I read today's article w/both astonishment and disbelief. Is our esteemed commish of public safety for real? Stiffer sentences he says?! That’s all and well, were it not for the fact that he needs to clean his own house first and foremost.

Is he even remotely aware that many of his own officers are alleged to both use and deal in both “Ice” and marijuana???

Is he aware of the availability of those drugs at the T.C.F.? I have a friend who is incarcerated and he says there are so much drugs inside the jail it’s insane. And how are they being delivered you may ask? It’s alleged by the very guards themselves.

Now I have to ask how is it that our Fono Speaker, whose vehicle was recently found to contain a quantity of drugs, and yet not one charge was filed? “Oh it was my son-in-law” was his reply. Now if the average chump on the street were to be in the same situation do you think he would receive the same pass that this titled faipule was and has been given?

Mr. Le'i are you that insulated from reality that you really are not aware that our island’s drug problem starts at the very top, and trickles down to the average Joe on the street? We have a double standard at play here, and it’s the dirty little secret that is known by all.

Mr. Commish… America’s war on drugs should tell you it's been a long lost cause, and the corruption and greed that fuel the drug trade here in Am. Samoa will NEVER disappear as long as the demand remains as high as it does.

Not one mention in the article was made of education, beginning in the early years of school. Education is the fundamental key to the epidemic you so wish to eradicate. Supply and demand are what fuels this problem, and not one effort is made to decrease the demand.

The supply is far too lucrative. And where are the Rehab programs that can begin to address this issue? Nothing exists in any form in that regard. It sure sounds good to take the tough stand our esteemed Fono members have done. But they are not living in reality.

Start with them when it comes to drug testing, stop giving them the free pass at the airport to walk thru with no screening of any kind. Make them live up to the standards they demand of the general population.

Drug screening, customs screening, they should be held even more accountable than Mr. and Mrs. Average who come into the territory if they wish to set an example.

Oh, but no… as titled privileged people, they get the free pass. Right Mr. Speaker? With your drug filled truck? Funny thing about this is that I am not saying anything that EVERYONE doesn't already know here on our island.

Corruption is a way of life, and has been for generations. Think it shall change soon? Not when the money is as good as it is.

Thank you and may the Lord bless and keep us all, though not even He can stop the juggernaut that is the growing drug problem we face.

Alfred Kolmer

(Editor’s Note: The ‘drug-filled’ vehicle was recently seen on the road — does this mean no charges are being filed — against the son-in-law or against the owner of the vehicle, the Speaker of the House? Shame on us for accepting this — it makes a mockery of the Commissioner and the Fono’s stand on drugs.

Here’s a thought: Let’s just legalize it all, ASG can then tax it, and there’s the “missing money” the governor keeps talking about for his Supplemental Budget — GONG! ra)